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The Edge... There is no honest way to explain it because the
only people who really know where it is are the ones who have
gone beyond the edge. The others - the living - are those
who pushed their luck as far as they felt they could handle
it, and then pulled back. But the edge is still out there.
...Or maybe it's in.- Hunter S. Thompson

(To start playing, simply fill out a character sheet below and post it in the thread. No, really - it's that simple. You don't have to read the threads (they're pretty long anyway). Don't worry about messing anything up - we'll be quick to help. Lurkers welcome.)

Feel groggy? Headache? Eyes burning? Let me give it to you straight. It's the year 3152, and we just woke you up from cryosleep. It seems we'd forgotten you existed; we only rediscovered you yesterday. Our records of you got lost somewhere, and the cargo bots could have been ignoring your pods for decades, for all we know. And where are you? I'll fill you in.

My name is SCAMPS, for Shipboard Computer Assigned to Monitoring Prisoner Services. That's right: you're on a prison ship, and I'm a computer. In case you don't remember, your local authorities signed you up for a death tour aboard the Tartarus. Why? I don't know, and honestly, I don't even care. You were retarded enough to get caught. We shouldn't expect anything useful out of you, and yet, circumstances dictate that we must.

Welcome to The Nemesis, gentlemen. You're aboard what's left of a battle cruiser that got shot down above a shit-stain Hiltorel planet called Nanyej. All you need to know is that we're beyond the edge of humanity's domain and all entities here are presumed hostile. We're understaffed, outgunned, and facing an enemy that wants to snuff us from existence. Best of all, our comm systems are toast, and we've lost all contact with Tartarus. They don't even know that we're alive. There is no hope of surrender, nor of any rescue.

This is where you come in. We're inducting you into the Requisitional Knowledge Troops. On Tartarus, you would survive ten dangerous missions to earn your freedom, or you die. Out here? Well... you do your part, or we all die. We'll send you on deadly missions out here in the galaxy's sphincter, and if we ever manage to get back home... well, we'll see what happens then.

Come up with the most hare-brained schemes imaginable, and if they use any skills, stats or weapons, I'll roll dice to determine whether they're a success. Try to remember that the more actions you try to execute on a single turn, the more likely you are to catastrophically fail: if you queue up running around a corner and firing a barrage of rockets, only to have a cage crash down over your head before you fire, I'll still fire those rockets, they'll hit the cage, and you'll be red paint. If you do too many actions on a single turn... well, bad things tend to happen then.

Gameplay is relaxed - no "stay online" stuff. To do an action, just make a post with your action in underlined text. Your character's speech should be put "between quotation marks". Try to keep OOC (out of character) stuff in ((double parentheses)) just to be safe or I may wind up making your character act bizarre. (This only applies to the Mission Thread and the Nemesis thread, not the main thread.) I'll do one turn every time everyone has posted.

You have a three-day limit to post your actions (starting from the last update). After the three-day limit is up, I make a post with everyone's characters and you get to do more stuff. HOWEVER: If someone doesn't post within three days, then I skip their nonexistent actions. This isn't to be mean - it's just to keep people from tying up the game indefinitely when other people want to play. If you're going to be leaving for a while, make sure you tell me ahead of time, and hand control of your character (temporarily) to someone else. If you have to stop playing entirely, let me know this too.

It's recommended that you use this page to help you create your character - it will do all the coding for you, tell you if your character build isn't appropriate, tell you what your character will be good and bad at, and even link you to the wiki's armory pages for items you'll probably want to check out for your specific build.

In the most recent build, it also has a series of questions that will significantly increases your chances at getting accepted if you answer at least one of them, and a series of prompts to help you come up with character traits for your build if you're feeling stuck.

For full details on the auditioning process, refer to the post below.

Character Sheet (for if you can't access the character creation page):

Note: Only Stats, Skills and Purchases relate to gameplay. The rest is roleplay-only and can be as long or short as you want it (even five words is acceptable, but I'd like a few sentences at least). It's just to give me, as the writer/dungeon master, something to work with.

When you first start, you get a few free items:
- a Mk1 CASKET ship
- two standard robotic arms
- two pincers

* You don't necessarily have to be a standard human - if you're not a regular human (robot, android, bioandroid, mutated human, lab experiment), expect me to haggle with you over it a great deal before I'm satisfied. I won't allow any overpowered characters and I may Rule 0 some things. If your character has more than two arms, for instance, expect to take some heavy hits in other areas. Use a standard human as a template. Alien characters won't play well with the universe. The only exceptions are if it's a rubber-forehead alien (or unusually weak alien) without useful superpowers. Characters that need a rule change/bend to work will absolutely not be accepted under any circumstances.

Be aware that for this specific campaign, roleplaying aliens will become considerably more interesting, as the majority of NPCs (of both sides) will loathe your character. Be mindful of this if you're sure you want to create an alien character. The Nemesis is under attack by a number of alien foes - primarily Hiltorel. Playing as Hiltorel is disallowed for this purpose.

Example character sheet:

Name: Robert ColazzaAge: 22Gender: Male Personal Information: Born 104 years ago, he grew up on a small station outside Septi Beta 9. Learned to shoot at an early age with a rifle he stole from one of the local corrupt security officers while they were drinking on the job. Made his first kill at 8, joined a crime ring at age 12, pulled off his first major heist at 17 - which happened to be where he met his future wife, Eleksa. He married her a year later. At 20, a heist went wrong and he accidentally blew up an entire cruiser while trying to acquire its cargo of palladium ore. Wanted for mass murder, it wasn't long before the authorities found him. They packed him aboard the Nemesis to ship him to Tartarus... but he never arrived.Personality: Cold but unassuming. Hates leaving anyone behind but can be cruel about dragging them along. Not much for chit-chat - prefers to avert conversation by lighting a cigarette. Likes to drink tea. Not a loner, but you'd almost think he wanted to be. Can remain calm in stressful situations. Used to be a leader, but now only prefers to follow.

Character Creation Rules
Everyone starts with zero levels in all stats and skills. No points are given out.
You can add positive levels during character creation, but must take a greater penalty each time you do so. In other words, having a total of +1 positive initial levels means you must take a total of -1 levels elsewhere, i.e. you can add one to Energy (Energy +1) but must subtract one from something else, like Durability (Durability -1)
The amount of negative levels you take increases with your total positive levels:

+1 levels means you take -1 levels elsewhere

+2 levels means you take -3 levels elsewhere

+3 levels means you take -6 levels elsewhere

+4 levels means you take -10 levels elsewhere

you cannot add more than four levels total.

initial levels cannot be less than -2.

initial levels cannot be more than 2.

To give a further example, let's say I want to put two points into Durability. That means I must take three points from something else, so I set Energy to -1 and Computer Systems to -2. Then, let's say I also want to add a point to Engines. That's a total of +3 (2 for durability and 1 for Engines), so I therefore must subract a total of six. I already have -3 between Computers and Energy, so I subtract another one from Energy, subtract another from Hacking Systems, and then subtract another from PSI Unit. I now have a total of +3 against -6.

Stats are separate for both Stats and Skills - you can't put +3 into Stats and then try to subtract six from Skills - it doesn't work that way. You could technically keep all your stats at zero and just mess with your skills even if you wanted, or have +2 in stats and +1 in skills.
Getting all zeroes isn't necessarily the best option.
Remember that if you go all zeroes, you'll have a fair chance of failing at everything you do.
If you get a few 1s or 2s, you could stick to those skills as much as possible and have a better chance of survival.
But you should only do that if you don't plan on raising the skills you put negative levels in.
Leveling Up
For every successful mission, you get ten points to put in any of your skills, and ten points to put in any of your stats. Leveling stats/skills costs as follows:

lvl -2 to lvl -1: 10 points

lvl -1 to lvl 0: 5 points

lvl 0 to lvl 1: 5 points

lvl 1 to lvl 2: 10 points

lvl 2 to lvl 3: 15 points

lvl 3 to lvl 4: 20 points

Points last between missions; this means you can split your points up and have something at three points, and then put two more points in after the next mission to make five. If your ship gets destroyed, you won't lose your stats, but you'll take a hit to the number of creds you receive, and of course have to replace anything that broke. If you die... well, don't expect to come back.

Stats
Your MK 1 CASKET (Contained Active Service Killer Escort Tool) has a number of upgrades that could be made to it - which is important, as you're more or less flying around in a pop-up toaster otherwise. These upgrades are permanent and can be replaced as long as your pilot still draws breath (or ammonia soup, depending on where you're from). If you get your ship blown up, we'll just build you a new one after you get back home.

Energy - whatever fool inventor thought it'd be a brilliant idea to have weapons, shields, and afterburner use the same resource would probably be pissed that this gets a single stat. Helps determine how big of weapons your ship can handle, too. Makes your ship capable of carrying bigger conventional weapons.
Translates into Strength on foot. Helps you deliver stronger punches, lift heavier weights, carry heavier weapons with more recoil and generally just blow the mind of any lady that happens to look in your direction. Also helps you in melee combat.

Durability - How long it takes you to become a lump of molten metal in a firefight. Backup systems also fall under this category, as well as self-repair nanobots (not that we're giving you any). Helps add resistances to your ship and keep it from falling apart under fire.
Translates into Endurance on foot. Helps you push through the pain when you're wounded, so you're not crying on the ground like a little wuss. Also helps keep you from passing out from the pain of all the stupid stuff you've done.

Maneuverability - Regardless of how stupid of an idea it was to fly between those asteroids, this helps you get back out alive. It could also help you win races, if you weren't in a maximum security prison serving indefinite time at the edge of space. Helps you maneuver in tight areas, dodge weapon fire, and do incredible acrobatics.
Translates into Agility on foot. Helps you leap tall counters in a single bound, jump places you wouldn't normally be able to, and especially helps you dodge weapon fire. Particularly good too if you want to use swords or go in for melee combat.

Hacking Systems - Helps you hack things more… better. What more could you ask for? Note: Anyone caught attempting to hack one of their teammates will not be summarily keelhauled, but we might tape it and run it later in the theater if you succeed.
On foot, translates into … Hacking.

Computer - It helps you appear smarter than a four-year-old on occasion. Useful for operating advanced prototype weaponry that requires large amounts of calculations. Or anything that requires calculations, really. Also determines the size of your database.
Translates into Perception on foot. Helps you learn more from looking over the battlefield and gives you a better idea of what's going on. Lets you see details others may have missed.

PSI Unit (PSyche Integrator) - Machinery and computer equipment that hooks directly into your brain through special plugs in your head that we've taken the liberty of installing - and you didn't even have to sign. Useful for operating psionic weaponry and (sometimes) not losing your mind. Can also be used to "will" your ship to do certain minor things, but takes a perfect roll (5) to be successful. (The default PSI unit just creates precise, localized, short-range magnetic fields. Turn your ship, wave a robotic arm, etc. Installing amps gives you more abilities.)
Translates into Willpower on foot. Helps keep you from panicking and screaming like a little girl in the corner. Also helps you wake back up if you happen to pass out. Best of all, helps keep you immune to alien mind control techniques and can even let you use that stuff against them.

Robotics - Your CASKET comes pre-installed with two robotic arms and pincers. The more we upgrade them, the stronger and more useful they'll be to you. Upgrading them more will also let you install even better equipment later on, after you've earned your keep. Especially good for people that want handiwork skill.
Translates into PDA skill on foot. Lets you scan things, record data, access databases and more. Also lets you use your PDA's built in electrical and infrared ScanCam modes. Short range, but can keep you alive.

Engines - Your engines are what make you move, dumbass. Did you really expect me to explain everything to you? Fine. This controls how good your thrusters and primary engines are, how fast you move, all of that good stuff. Also afterburners. Helps you dodge things better and multitask. Regardless of whether or not all that went over your head, I'm not explaining it any further.
Translates into Run Speed on foot

. Also helps with multitasking and dodging things that require you to get the hell out of the way.

Skills
Most people are good at something - most, mind you. You lot are probably the worst bunch of misfits and cowards I've ever seen, so here's your chance to prove you're better than a mildly sentient doorjamb. Simply mark down what you're good at and we'll get you processed - unless you're not good at anything, in which case you were really stupid to let us catch you. Actually, you all ought to get a low mark on intuition to begin with.

Charisma - A handy skill for when you want to talk a bullet out of embedding itself in your face. Handles all sorts of interpersonal communications. Probably not used much. When it is used, though, you can potentially talk enemies into assisting you. Every turn, the member of a party of 3 or more gets a roll for charisma, and if successful, all actions of allies in the group get a +1 to rolls. A good skill for leaders.

Intuition - that tingly feeling you get when somebody plants a nuke in your latrine. Helpful for guessing your way through defusing a dozen bombs or for finding your wake back home after twice that many drinks. Specifically: Used for making uneducated guesses about things you couldn't possibly have any knowledge about. Helps you dodge bullets and assists your reflexes. Excellent dodge skill, though not as useful outside of combat as Maneuverability.

Handiwork - Making things, breaking things, fixing things, and otherwise turning stuff from X, into laser guided, thermonuclear Y. Also helps you repair or patch both ships and other automated systems. Helpful in things like coolant leaks, which will likely happen. Lets you create things from part kits as well. If you level this high enough and buy the correct stuff, you can even start making money off of your inventions. This skill also doubles as medical knowledge and ability. Mechanics make good medics.

Conventional weapons - Anything with a barrel that goes pew-pew and shoots a potentially lethal something when you pull a trigger or mash a button.

Exotic weapons - Things which blur the line between weapon and supernatural force. Includes amps, implants, genetic augmentation and most alien weaponry.

General Knowledge - You know that thing, at that place where the stuff does the thing? Yeah, of course you do. You know every detail of it down to the color of the fourth hair on its pinky finger. Useful as an arbitrary trivia stat - you'll know more about your gear and more about the enemy with this skill. Good way to use it: "Try to remember if X." Can help you know parkour, kung-fu, and anything else.

Auxiliary - How good you are at using external things you tack onto your ship. Makes drones and other things more useful, along with a lot of other miscellaneous crap. Lets you purchase bigger, stronger ships later on in the game, and keeps the GM from splattering you when he thinks it's vaguely amusing.

Be aware that your character WILL feel underpowered on your first mission. Nobody is OP right off the bat. It takes a couple missions to start feeling truly awesome.

Read the Tips for New Players on the wiki thoroughly. There are a ton of excellent tips there from older players on how to get the most out of the game - and keep you from looking like an idiot.
So, you're new to REKT. In a nutshell, you're a criminal that's been captured and shipped to Tartarus - a massive prison ship. But you never made it there. Woken up decades after you got put to sleep for transport, you were forced to join REKT. Now you whatever it takes to keep yourself and the Nemesis alive and running. But - all these options! What do you choose?! Who will you be?! I'll break it down here a little easier for you.

In REKT, there are no classes. You can be absolutely anything you want, and in any way you want. Here's some helpful quick tips on how you can do that a little more easily.

What do you want?

Want to be a Medic or Engineer? - in REKT, this is the same thing. Get the Handiwork skill for this. The Robotics stat can help a lot here too. As an engineer/medic you are also able to build and create incredible equipment while in the middle of a mission, if you bring the right gear for the job.

Want to be the ultimate sniper or gunner? - Put some points into your Conventional skill. Conventional lets you use guns. The Energy stat is useful too - it lets you wield bigger weapons with more recoil. It also helps you carry more on foot.

Want infantry melee weaponry and explosives? - Definitely add to your Unconventional skill. Unconventional is good for both. If you want blunt weaponry, you'll want some points in Energy - which translates as Strength on foot. If you want to throw things, or if you want bladed weapons, get some Maneuverability. On foot it means you're more agile.

Want ship melee weaponry and nukes? - The Maneuverability stat can help. So can the Robotics stat, if you want to use robotics. Either way, definitely put some points into Unconventional.

Want to be an expert hacker?? - Hacking stat. That's pretty obvious. As a hacker, you'll probably want to put some points into other things too - hackers have a boring life if all they do is hack. If you get Computer, you can also defend against enemy hacks, too.

Want to be a mad scientist? - Some people like guns. Other people prefer science. If you want to be a scientist, Computer(Perception) and General Knowledge are the way to go. People who get General Knowledge have studied in many fields, and naturally know all sorts of things.

Want to dodge like mad? - Definitely get Maneuverability, Speed, and Intuition. All of these make you much better at dodging. With these stats high enough, even a newbie would be decent at dodging. Maneuverability makes you agile, and Intuition helps you expect bullets before they're even fired, giving you a little extra time to get out of the way.

Want to tank? - Be warned that tanking is a difficult affair in REKT. You're just as squishy as anyone else. You can increase your chances by getting higher Durability and Auxiliary - Durability for toughness, and Auxiliary for armor. Both are highly useful.

Want to be a true biotic god? - Get Willpower and Exotic. Willpower is important for many things, but most PSI weapons require it. You'll be powerful in your ship as well as on the ground. Makes you be like a really cool Jedi (minus the lightsabers).

Want to never panic and never pass out? - Get Durability to keep from passing out from pain. Willpower helps keep you from panicking, helps you resist alien mind control, and helps you wake up faster if you DO pass out.

Want to get NPCs to follow your every instruction? - Get Charisma. Charisma is an incredibly powerful skill, especially at lower levels. Getting Charisma makes you a lot more likable, and people are a lot more likely to listen to you, too - but only NPCs. Charisma has no effect on other players at all.

Want to be fast like the Flash? - Engines are your thing. It technically translates to "Speed" on foot. This helps you cross distances faster and makes you much better at multitasking - provided you say to do something quickly or fast (make sure I understand you're trying to be fast).

Want cutting edge scientific ship weapons? - For here you should probably go for Unconventional skill and the Computer stat. This will help you use field manipulators, which are awesome.

Want really big ships? - if you want big ships, you definitely want some points in Auxiliary skill. The Aux skill lets you buy bigger ships, among other things.

Make sure you read through the rest of this post! The rules on the Wiki are also incredibly helpful - read through those too. Don't feel afraid to ask questions either! We're always happy to help.

I'd like to point out that over the course of the campaign there will be a (roughly) equal amount of infantry and ship combat. Trying to go ship-only or infantry-only is a very bad idea and you may find yourself wishing you were better suited to the other mode of combat at times. If you focus on one, be prepared for both. You'll need it.

After you've picked out your stats, it will be considerably easier to figure out which weapons you want. Just check the wiki! It'll help a lot. Don't feel overwhelmed and just select the stuff that matches your play style. If you need help or want pointers, ask! The people here are more than happy to help out a potential member.

So, you're done with all that. You have your character and are ready to play - but what the heck do you do next? It's pretty simple, actually. Scroll down to the next post for full details on how the tryouts work.

Be aware that I do not assign your squad. You must be in a squad to participate on a mission, but you and the other players are in charge of deciding squads. Talk to the squad leaders and other players to decide which squad you'll be a part of.

And finally - mission briefing. I WILL NOT ALERT YOU IF THERE IS A MISSION UNLESS WE ARE VERY, VERY LOW ON PLAYERS. Keep an eye on things and be ready to post in the Briefing thread when it's time for a mission briefing. Just say your character walks to the briefing room in the Nemesis thread, and wait for me to post. If you haven't walked to the Briefing Room within a week, I will consider you to have missed the mission, and anyone that is in the waiting list will have a shot to join instead of you. If nobody else is in the waiting list, or we still have open spots, you can join late - but this is not advised.

Here's the pecking order for joining a mission:

Tryout winners: 1 week to join

After a week has passed: Auditioned players (highest audition score of same-day)

NPCs will fill any gaps after a second week

Not so difficult, right? Thanks for following along. The best readers make the best players.

Originally called the Search And Retrieval Device for INterning Employees, it was later renamed to the Contained Active Service Killer Escort Tool, firstly because our active service personnel kept insisting we were sending them into combat pre-packaged in coffins, and secondly because SARDINE doesn't really make all that much sense. Your first purchase of the CASKET comes with two free robotic arms equipped with pincers, pre-installed. If you break them, you pay to replace them.

There is no hyperspace module. There are no shields. You're flying in a coffin that can reach fairly decent speeds - just make sure to remember to slow down.

Your ship has four engines and a cockpit, which you can upgrade to double as an escape pod. It also has a total of sixteen maneuvering thrusters - if you break these, we'll replace them free of charge. You start with two dual-weapon mounts, but can purchase up to two additional dual-mounts in the future. You also have two aft-underside attachment points good for storing large or bulky items.

The images below are of the CASKET Mk2. The Mk1 version isn't nearly as pretty, and we don't paint it, but they both have the same basic design.

Death is a scary thing on the inner planets, right? Not so much on the Tartarus... but this isn't Tartarus. This is the Nemesis. Our medbay took some heavy damage in the firefight in orbit, and worse damage when we crash-landed. Some of our docs survived, and we're working on repairs, but if you died right this instant, you'd stay dead. If we had it fixed up, we'd simply extract your brain from your corpse and stick it in a robot body, and you could work things out from there. But, we don't. You'd better hope like hell that your squad's medic survives, or your goose is cooked.

As to your ship, it's a lot more disposable than you are. If somebody pokes a lot of holes in it, we'll repair them when you get back. If somebody blows off your engine, that's fine - don't panic. Just use your cockpit's controls to reroute things. With four gimbaled engines and plenty of maneuvering thrusters, you're fine as long as you still have an engine left. Those maneuvering thrusters are slightly more difficult to come by, but we're sure you'll figure something out.

If you lose upgrades on your ship such as weapons, we're not replacing them for free. Even though your survival is important, ours is too, and we're short on materials. If you lose your entire ship, you'll have to pick a new model completely, for less than half of what it was worth. However, this will require you to lose ALL of your ship, with none of it brought back.

For each mission, we'll stick you in your CASKET and send you off. Up on the Tartarus, they have fancypants drop carriers that they'd stick you in and fling you at the target. We don't have any of those here. You're getting there by yourself, and after you leave port, you're on your own. This means that if you jerkwads piss yourselves, there's no change of clothes coming. The only ones that can help you out are your squadmates. Remember - your squad is important. Stick with them. Keep each other safe.

In your mission briefing, we'll give you certain targets to acquire. Get these, and then you can drag your charred corpses back from whatever rock you managed to get yourself wedged under. If you managed to keep your brain intact, we'll give you five credits free of charge. You'll also get 10 stat/skill points to (potentially) level up with. It doesn't matter whether your allies saved you - they're perfectly within their rights to leave you behind, although we don't look kindly on that sort of thing. We can't aford to, after all.

Getting home is your problem. On Tartarus, they'd send someone after you to pick you up... but they were throwing you a lot farther out there, too. At the present time, you're stuck on Nanyej with us. CASKETs have a lot of power, but they don't have what it takes to escape a planet's gravity well. In fact, we're all stuck here until we can repair Nemesis enough to get us off the ground.

Later, we may dock it with a personnel drop-carrier that carries four to six people, and fling you at the target instead. Regardless, after we ship you out, you're on your own. This means that if you jerkwards piss yourselves, there's no change of clothes coming. Your squad is important. Stick with them. Keep each other safe.

If the mission does have drop carriers, they'll fly you to a close distance from the target - usually within the range of their anti-spacecraft guns. (Remember: Close, not safe.) This means you might get shot up while you're flying through. That's okay - if the drop carriers take too much damage to continue, they'll automatically eject your CASKET. They'll also eject you when you get close enough to the target.

Ejection usually consists of your CASKET getting flung at speeds well past Mach 5 towards whatever hellhole we're sending you at. It's up to you to figure out how to slow the hell down - we don't give two shits about safety, and it might be wise if you don't either. We'll also give you some degree of communication with the pilot, though, so if you think you can convince him to take you somewhere else, go right ahead. If you piss him off, he's perfectly in his own right to fling you into the nearest asteroid. Fine with me - less paperwork to deal with. I may be a computer, but printing takes a while.

In our mission briefing, we'll give you certain target(s) to acquire. Get these, and we'll come pick up your charred corpses from whatever rock you managed to get yourself wedged under. If you miraculously managed to keep your brain intact, we'll give you five credits free of charge. You'll also get 10 stat/skill points to (potentially) level up with. It doesn't matter whether your allies saved you - they're perfectly in their right to either bring you along or leave you behind.

Additional credits (up to 5 more) are awarded based on your performance. This includes things such as:

Keeping your squadmates alive

Retrieving the artifact

Not getting blown to confetti bits

Shooting up whatever alien freaks you see

Whatever other Hiltorel tech you managed to salvage. We'll give you creds for anything you sell back at the armory. (This includes pieces of your own or allied ships.)

Sound good? Good. Remember that our survival depends on your success. If we make it back to the Tartarus, I'll put in a good word... if I think you deserve it.

See next post for information on how to apply.

Last edited by Talvieno on Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:23 am, edited 2 times in total.

How to apply
The previous iteration of REKT was first-come, first-serve. This isn't fair to people that arrive late, but worked well in that there were so many players. With a smaller playerbase of only ten, I can afford to mix and match to make the game as fun as possible. This is why there will be tryouts.

Tryouts
1. First, make your character and post them in this thread. Don't be shy! If you mess something up, someone else here will help you out so you can get it fixed. Make sure you choose your loadout as well! Be aware that the "extra credit" questions are not strictly necessary, and you can in fact do just fine without answering most of them. I would suggest, however, that you answer at least one. It need not be in detail, but you may benefit from putting thought into it. These questions are mostly to help those struggling to come up with a well-rounded, non-flat character.

2. Wait for me to approve your character. If I approve, we'll put it on the wiki (loadout too), make it official, and we can move on to the next step. If not, you'll have to do some editing if you still want to play.

3. When we have a sufficient character count, I will pair each of you quasi-randomly with another player. This is your Tryout Teammate. You don't necessarily have to be on good terms, but they're who you're going into battle with.

4. Each of you will have a small set of missions you can choose from. You and your teammate will decide on one of them - and must agree.

5. When you have agreed on the mission, I'll start a new thread for the both of you and you can begin. Missions will be very short - the main goal here is for me to see how you play, and how you roleplay.

6. After everyone has tried out, points will be awarded based on your character. The ten players with the highest scores get to play REKT: BTE. Other players will still be able to rotate in later on.

Q & A:Q: What? Cryosleep?A: Yep, you were in cryosleep. How long? That's entirely up to you, but there's a minimum of one year here, and I would suggest longer. The Nemesis is an old ship, but probably not older than 90 years or so. You can say your character was asleep for anywhere within that time period. It may make your character a lot more interesting if you're creative about it.

Q: But I don't want to be in cryosleep. What if my character is allergic to it?A: Ahahahaha. Hahaha. Ha. Enjoy the rash.

Q: Wait, you can actually be allergic to cryosleep?A: No. You'll feel sick for a few hours, might vomit a bit, eyesight might be blurry, and a few other symptoms. Cryosickness ain't fun. After a while, though, you'll feel right as rain. Don't worry, you have time.

Q: Hiltorels?A: Yep, Hiltorels. A long time ago, back in the year 2135, humanity established contact with the first alien species they'd ever met - the Hiltorel. We became fast friends, and they helped welcome us into the galactic community... but also tightly restricted our progress. As we continued to try to expand, we pressed harder. Border wars sprung up starting around 2307, and finally they took control of our government and our people in 2439. In the year 2591, we finally grew sick of their shit and started a mass rebellion which lasted 29 years before we finally overthrew them. We spent the next four centuries systematically wiping them and other aliens from the galaxy, condemning them to small reservations of trash worlds in the galaxy's rim. They hate us, and we hate them. Our oldest friends, and oldest enemies.

Q: Why the hell are we in Hiltorel space?A: That's still classified.

Q: Can I be an alien?A: Yeah, you can, but nobody's going to like you. Expect to get shortchanged and mistreated everywhere you go. Some of this may factor into more than just roleplay - it could affect gameplay as well. Don't be surprised if you get jumped by other crew members.

Q: Can I be Hiltorel?A: Not right now. You'd be shot on sight, assuming you even made it out of the cryopods. That's no fun.

Q: But I still want to be an alien. Is there a list I can choose from?A: Your funeral, pal. There's a short list on the wiki. I would advise you try to design your own, though - after all, the galaxy is large and full of terrors. Be aware that if you design anything rule-breaking or rule-changing, you'll probably get rule zero'd. Being an alien is good for roleplay only - I typically won't let it give you any sort of gameplay bonus, regardless of what kind of negatives you throw in there for yourself. At most, you can do some fiddling with the count of your arms/legs... but be prepared to take some heavy stat/skill hits in the process.

Q: Well, that sucks. I think that's stupid. Can we vote?A: If you're asking this question, this is not a game you should be playing.

Q: I don't see any mention of ranks. Are there ranks like last time?A: Right now, ranks mean nothing. You're out in the middle of nowhere, deep in alien territory. There are no reinforcements coming, and no rescue team. Nobody knows you're here. There certainly aren't enough people for everyone to be a colonel. Instead, we're going to do a reputation system that's going to work basically the same way. I'm still working out the details as of this writing (Mar 29 2017), but it'll work out okay.

Talvieno wrote:If you edit your page on the wiki, post in the armory thread to let me know or your changes will be considered non-canon.

Talvieno wrote:DO NOT edit loadouts on the wiki. If you do, your changes are considered non-canon and will be reverted. You will then miss the next campaign mission for not paying attention and following directions.

Talvieno wrote:If you edit your page on the wiki, post in the armory thread to let me know or your changes will be considered non-canon.

Talvieno wrote:DO NOT edit loadouts on the wiki. If you do, your changes are considered non-canon and will be reverted. You will then miss the next campaign mission for not paying attention and following directions.

Finally, Saoirse's time to shine! Originally designed the character... over 1.5 years ago. She's changed a lot since then - the original was more serious and methodical and slow.
The current version tries to incorporate the fun parts of Dino - more silly, and she can follow the path of the bonsai later.
And I think I also made her personality quite a bit more complex.

Name: Saoirse Fri'lethAge: 25Gender: FemalePersonal Information:
Saoirse Fri'leth (more or less pronounced seer-sha) was born on the planet of New Dublin, but moved with her parents to Poesis I-96-O when she was 7 years old, because her dad got a job offer he couldn't refuse, which required him to move there.
When she was 8, she was run over by a hover car, driven by a drunken guy who had somehow managed to override the autopilot. She barely survived, but lost her right arm, leg and eye. Now, in most places this would pose little problems, but Poesis had very traditionalistic (religion-driven) views about modifying the human body - cloned limbs were unheard of and robotic ones rare and primitive. Still, through moving heaven, earth and a variety of other celestial objects Saoirse's parents managed to get her a robotic eye, arm and leg.
Though primitive compared even to the cheap stuff Tartarus gives its inmates (imagine something you'd see in a cheap retro-scifi series), for little Saoirse it meant she could see, run and play again.

In school, kids tended to make fun of "the weird robot girl", and she never had any real friends. Their loss, they missed out on a loyal and friendly though eccentric friend.
Saoirse didn't understand why people found her robotics so unsettling - it wasn't hard to find articles on the hypernet about robotic implants that make you run faster than the wind, lift cars, even hypermodern PSI implants that let you manipulate electricity with your mind.
Frustrated by the lack of anything like that on Poesis, and by the backward view of the people, she decided to make them herself.
She went to study engineering, and joined an illegal lab researching robotic limbs and Psi-amps. Though it occasionally meant dealing with shady people, she only ever experimented on herself and never did anything ethically wrong.
However, one day the lab was ratted out, everyone got arrested, and Saoirse got sent to Tartarus.
She aspires to become part of Tartarus' research division when she gets through REKT, as they do exactly what she was doing, but with better equipment.

Personality: Eccentric, witty and very cheerful. Sensitive, shy, and somewhat anxious around new people, but she's very attached to those she considers friends.
Has a bit of a "mad scientist" attitude when it comes to scientific stuff and combat. Enjoys blowing things up in creative ways. Might not be entirely sane.
Obsessive about certain things. Loves pudding and space. Gets annoyed when people pronounce her name wrong. It's Saoirse, not Saorise!

Reason your character got REKT: Caught running illegal experiments considered unethical on herself, involving experimental psi implants and amps. Sent to the Tartarus because she even refused to admit she had done anything wrong.
(Poesis' government only allowed primitive robotic bodymods when they're a medical necessity. She disagrees.)

What was your character's dream, before getting shipped to Tartarus? Was there anything in particular your character dreamed of accomplishing someday?
-Her dream was to use her research to earn enough to move her family back to New Dublin, where her grandparents live and which she still considers home despite having only lived there a few years. She also wanted to "stick it to the man" by doing exactly what people judged her for most of her life.
-Now she's in REKT, she wants to stand out and join Tartarus' research division when she's through the 10 missions.

List a few ways your character's personality could develop and/or change over the course of the story.
-Since she has no criminal or military background, she will at first be disinclined to kill people (humans or other sentient beings). Depending on events, this intention could fade away or develop in an honourable "do not kill unless it's the only way to prevent a teammate's death" creed
-Given her background, she will be initially shy around people. Depending on teamwork interactions, she could grow more confident, become a lone wolf, or cling to (one or a few) trusted person/people.

What really sets your character apart from other characters, and makes your character unique?
In a world of grumpy, gruff, rough or edgy criminal inmates, her cheerful demeanour tends to stick out.
Unlike most inmates, she also has no criminal or military background at all.

What's a serious flaw your character has, that he/she has difficulty overcoming even when it matters most? Feel free to list more than one.
-Easily distracted by shiny tech
-She doesn't really get what REKT is - she expects a big adventure rather a place where criminals go to die. She's aware people die in REKT, but assumes that's because they're uneducated criminals while she's an intelligent engineer well-versed in using advanced tech. This makes her take larger risks than is wise, and needlessly cheerful and optimistic.
-When she thinks she's right, she will ignore what other people say and do what she wants.

Does your character have any interests? Hobbies? Passions or strong opinions? Relate two or more of these.
-She can play the Uillean Pipes (Irish bagpipe), is a good singer and likes Celtic folk.
-She's a vegetarian, but doesn't understand how vegans can live without pudding
-She thinks cyborg limbs and psi amps are cool
-Pudding
-Space

Tell a short story about something that happened between your character and someone they were close to before they got shipped to Tartarus.
A knock on the door made little Saoirse look up from her book. As the nurse entered her her hospital room, she frowned at Saoirse's freshly installed bionic limbs. She did that a lot, so Saoirse had decided to call her Frowny. She'd tried frowning back in the beginning, but it didn't seem to help much.
Today however, Saoirse was more interested in the package Frowny was carrying.
"What's that?"
"Someone sent a package for you. Your parents okayed it - it's from one Eóghainn Fri'leth."
"Owen."
"Pardon?"
"It's pronounced Owen, not Eóghainn."
"Whatever. Here." Frowny said, as she dumped the package on Saoirse's bed an walked back out.
Curious what grandpa Eóghainn had sent her, Saoirse pushed the button for the delivery message, and grandpa's voice started to play out of the tiny speaker.
"Hi, a thaisce - grandpa here. I'm sorry I couldn't come and visit ye in the hospital - I tried, but tickets off-planet cost almost as much as a house...
So instead I sent you something to learn to use those new fingers o'ye on! It's a bit old, but they say the old ones sound best. Have fun with it, and me and gramma will call you soon, okay?
Tá grá agam duit!"
*click*

Saoirse opened the box, and carefully lifted out her present - grandpa's old Uillean pipes from back when he learned to play himself.
She squeezed the bellow and poked the bag, producing a sound not unlike a drowning rubber ducky, and grinned.
Carefully, she bound the bellow to her bionic arm, put the bag under her left one, covered all the holes of the chanter (with some difficulty - the bionic fingers were still quite new), and started to play...
and even though she only played a single note, the note sung of home.

Tell a short story about a scenario where your character is forced to leave an ally behind to finish the mission.
"Dammit Saoirse, leave me and run!"
"No!"
"I can't walk and this place is gonna blow every minute now! Save yourself or we'll both die here!"
Saoirse stubbornly shook her head and kept dragging her crippled teammate to the landing zone... until she was suddenly knocked forward and felt her friend being torn from her grip.
She looked back, and saw he had used his gravitic shotgun to launch himself away from her.
"Now go!"
"But-"
"GO!"
"Dammit..."
Holding back tears, she started a sprint towards the drop zone, used her gravity amp to launch herself into her ship, and warped out using her warp psyamp mere fractions of a second before nuclear fire engulfed the place where her ship had been parked.

What seemed like an eternity later, back on Hermes, she played Hector the Hero on the pipes in his memory, tears streaming down her left cheek; a lament for a lost friend.

Tell a short story about a scenario where your character is forced to make a difficult decision.
Her mind still buzzing with the neatness she saw in the research department, Saoirse grabbed a tray in the mess hall and queued for dinner.
"What shall it be today?"- the lady asked her.
"A soy burger, lettuce, and baked potatoes please!"
"Any dessert?"
"Pudding!"
"Chocolate or vanilla?"
"errrrrrrrrrrr"

Very nice, Dino! Had myself a hearty laugh at a couple places, and at least one "aww" moment too.
I've avoided looking at pending characters on the wiki so I could see them with fresh eyes when they were first posted.

Yes, bagpipes are accepted. Obviously you can't take anything with you in a cryopod, but we can say you find one on board. Maybe it was confiscated when you were brought aboard and is still lying around somewhere.

I never thought I'd be happy about the prospect of horrible maiming and death someday. BUT I AM

I hope you're not as disturbed by my lack of creativity as I am though

Name: Frank Foster

Age: 43

Gender: Male

Personal Information: Frank was born to a poor family on the outer systems where they worked in a small mining-outpost on Atraxis. While he was comparatively weak, he proved his worth with a good understanding of machines, their working and the necessary systems to keep them running. His parents died when he was 17, in a big mining accident. From his experiences on site stems his crippling fear of natural caves and underground locations up to a certain technological level. He used the little savings they've made and the payout from the insurance to travel to the inner planets where he tried to get into a number of educational facilities. But due to a lack of normal schooling he was rejected everywhere. As his money slowly began to run out, he had to take an underpaid job as a janitor at a prestigious university (Planetary University of Science and Robotics on the planet Tress).
As he was enjoying his free time after cleaning duties, he was approached by some people who got to talk to him. After a while of talking (and drinking) he let himself get convinced to snatch some information from the universities servers. His skills with computers got him handy there and he received quite a good payment from his new acquaintances. After a few more such activities, he was actively scouted and pretty much pressed into service by Cerb Robotics as a Spy. On his jobs, he often used the disguise of the "Invisible Janitor" to get in and out without being remembered. Until he was caught just as he tried to crack into the local Governments Mainframe. After some Interrogations he was shipped of to Tartarus.
His testimony vanished the same day without any consequences.

Frank is ~1.80m tall, of moderately thin build without much muscle. His face is mostly without memorizable features. His short, brown hair starts graying out a bit already. Hazel eyes and a short, but well trimmed chin-beard complete his look.
He talks with a slightly wheezy voice as if out of breath. Otherwise his calm voice is pleasant to the ears.
His chosen deity to-go is the great, eternal Dustbunny.

Personality: Frank is a slightly slower person with a gentle demeanor. His combat experiences are low because he'd reather seek out ways to avoid conflict before it heats up.
Frank is mostly friendly and respectful on the outside, his thoughts can vary greatly though.Reason your character got REKT: He was caught trying to hack into a local governments mainframe where he was supposed to sniff out some informations that could be used to blackmail/manipulate them.Stats:Energy:-1Durability:0Maneuverability:0Hacking:1Computer:1PSI Unit:-1Robotics:0Engines:-1Skills:Charisma:1Intuition:-1Handiwork:1Conventional:-2Unconventional:1Exotics:-2General Knowledge:0Auxiliary:-1

What was your character's dream, before getting shipped to Tartarus? Was there anything in particular your character dreamed of accomplishing someday?
Right after the death of his parents, he sought to get a proper education in the areas he already had experience in, but as time went on he wanted to get away from Cerb Robotics to live the live he wanted to live without fear of them intervening.

List a few ways your character's personality could develop and/or change over the course of the story.
The REKT-program is no place where people can be picky about the possible conflicts they get into. It's possible that he has to drop his empathy when pitted against enemies or allies.

What really sets your character apart from other characters, and makes your character unique?
Frank has been at the bottom of the pecking order from the day where he started his first job as a Janitor. He is easily able to handle people of different standing due to his experience with superiors of all kinds and other people who stood at the lower end.

Does your character have any interests? Hobbies? Passions or strong opinions? Relate two or more of these.
He's often seen with some small object to tinker around with in his spare time. When there's nothing like that available, he might seek out places where he could help out with something technical. He also likes to idly inspect his surroundings from the point of view of a common cleaning personel.

Tell a short story about a scenario where your character is forced to leave an ally behind to finish the mission.
The job is always something important to Frank. But he doesn't neccessarily be the one who reaches the objective first or extracts it. As such Frank would have to sacrifice his allies when he sees no other way to save himself or fulfill the objective. He'd rather die though than leaving a friend behind without an extremely good reason, and even then he'd probably regret it for a long time.

Tell a short story about a scenario where your character would be in his/her element
Frank was wandering down the halls as every evening. Today, he found out over the last days, some of the students apparently planned a certain kind of party in one of the laboratories. It was a good chance for him...a good chance for a little distraction, so to say. Just a few little preparations in a room where he was supposed to clean up every day.
Staff and students passed by without noticing him. A scrawny assistant tumbled past and dropped a number of documents. "Careful there, lad.", Frank said to him with a smile as he collected the scattered papers. Rather uninteresting topics compared to his actual target, but it always paid out to keep up the facade of the inconspicious cleaning staff everyone could call and order around.
Later that night a fire broke out in one of the laboratories, obviously caused by the partying students. Some suffered light injuries, but most got out save...until the remaining staff got them in their hands. Meanwhile noone noticed the janitor leaving one of the IT centers, a data stick in his pockets and a face that showed regret for just a moment before this emotion got hidden behind the often used mask again.

Tell a short story about a scenario where your character dies in what he/she would consider the best way possible.
The preparations were finished, Frank managed to get into the facility undiscovered. First were some remote explosives at different locations. Some of them distractions, some...more important. Next was the security system with a more or less simple hack. Blowing up the charges, getting out and regrouping with the rest. He had noticed that one soldier who got suspicious of him...but time was running out. Hopefully he would die fast and painless...

Name: GearheadAge: 85Gender: MalePersonal Information: Born on the out-of-the-way world of Endpoint, a world which had harsh climate conditions and harsher flora and fauna at the time of its first settling. Its inhabitants turned towards heavy cybernetic augmentation to survive their harsh environment. Even after the world was "pacified" from the point of view of its inhabitants, it is still a harsh planet too hostile for baseline humans to live on comfortably.
The ability to live somewhat comfortably on most human settled worlds combined with the heavy augmentation thats necessary to live on their homeworld led the Endpointers to think of unaugmented, baseline humans as weak and inferior and to look down on baseliners with contempt. Gearhead is a typical Endpointer besides the lack of most of the actual survivability implants like strengthened bones and cybernetic muscles. Lots of middling cybernetic replacements, digestion adapted to get nutrition out of everything short of a rock, mildly toxic blood to discourage the Endpointian parasites and so on.
The most obvious augmentations are his artificial left arm and the big chunk of interface hardware covering most of the left half of his head and neck. Both of those fashioned in a brassy, "steampunk" like fashion, with fine chasings inlaid with some blue semi precious stones. The other augmentations are well disguised under artificial skin and not really visible unless someone knows what to look after. Usually dressed in some old Earth napoleionic era inspired uniform colored the same blue as the stones in his visible augmentations, rimmed with gold braid and adorned with two rows of bright golden buttons down the front.
The dress leaves out the brass arm.Personality: He flaunts the typical Endpoint arrogance and contempt for baseliners but combined with a lot of bitterness and "payback" due to the treatment of other Endpointers due to his lack of "heavy duty" augmentations which he foregone for more delicate augmentations to improve his meditechnical career. He also takes great pleasure in taking people apart and fitting them with augmentations, to the point where he becomes highly intrusive and abrasive if people refuse his attentions. With most baseliners his contempt overpowers his desire to "improve" them, but augmented people dont have much to disencourage him to throw his "affections" at them. The arrogance reduces with higher grades of augmentation, but unless theres very heavy augmentation in the other, some degree of superiority complex remains. In cases where his attentions are welcome he can be a pretty pleasant person, just dont even hint at his augmentations not being the best there can be.Reason your character got REKT: Someone refused his affections AND implied that his augmentations could be better.
There were a lot of surgical instruments involved.Stats:Energy:0Durability:-2Maneuverability:-2Hacking:1Computer:1PSI Unit:1Robotics:0Engines:-2Skills:Charisma:-2Intuition:0Handiwork:2Conventional:0Unconventional:-2Exotics:1General Knowledge:0Auxiliary:-2

What's a serious flaw your character has, that he/she has difficulty overcoming even when it matters most? Feel free to list more than one.
Contempt and distrust of the abilities of baseliners.

Does your character have any interests? Hobbies? Passions or strong opinions? Relate two or more of these.
Strongly pro-augmentation (duh), likes to tinker things into forms that he thinks of as being "authentic ancient", has a general thing for old earth "ancient" history.

Tell a short story about something that happened between your character and someone they were close to before they got shipped to Tartarus.
See the reason for being REKT.

Tell a short story about a scenario where your character would be in his/her element.
Someone being hurt, preferrably with something that requires artificial replacements.

Last edited by Cornflakes_91 on Wed Mar 29, 2017 11:47 am, edited 2 times in total.